Pulse jitter and single-pulse variability in millisecond pulsars

S. Q. Wang, N. Wang, J. B. Wang, G. Hobbs, H. Xu, B. J. Wang, S. Dai, S. J. Dang, D. Li, Y. Feng, C. M. Zhang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Understanding the jitter noise resulting from single-pulse phase and shape variations is important for the detection of gravitational waves using pulsar timing arrays. We present measurements of the jitter noise and single-pulse variability of 12 millisecond pulsars that are part of the International Pulsar Timing Array sample using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope. We find that the levels of jitter noise can vary dramatically among pulsars. A moderate correlation with a correlation coefficient of 0.57 between jitter noise and pulse width is detected. To mitigate jitter noise, we perform matrix template matching using all four Stokes parameters. Our results reveal a reduction in jitter noise ranging from 6.7% to 39.6%. By performing longitude-resolved fluctuation spectrum analysis, we identify periodic intensity modulations in 10 pulsars. In PSR J0030+0451, we detect single pulses with energies more than 10 times the average pulse energy, suggesting the presence of giant pulses. We also observe a periodic mode-changing phenomenon in PSR J0030+0451. We examine the achievable timing precision by selecting a subset of pulses with a specific range of peak intensity, but no significant improvement in timing precision is achievable.
Original languageEnglish
Article number6
Number of pages12
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume964
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2024

Open Access - Access Right Statement

Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.

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